fa9d l2amal فاقد لأمل
Moroccan Darija · adjective
“fa9d l2amal” (فاقد لأمل) is an adjective in Moroccan Darija meaning desperate, having lost hope.
Meanings
- desperate, having lost hope
Usage
Fa9d l2amal describes a person who no longer expects anything from a situation: illness, unemployment, a relationship. The phrase comes from Standard Arabic and remains in a somewhat formal register, but it is heard in darija in serious conversations, on the radio or on social media. The adjective agrees: fa9da l2amal in the feminine, fa9dine l2amal in the plural. In everyday conversation, people more often say 9ate3 l2iyas or ma b9a 3ndou amal. Do not confuse it with "disheartening": the word describes the person, not the situation.
Example
من نهار طردوه من الخدمة وهو فاقد لأمل
mn nhar tardoh mn lkhedma w howa fa9d l2amal
“Ever since he was fired from his job, he has been desperate.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “fa9d l2amal” but also “fa9ed l2amal” and “fakd lamal”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 2 is hamza (ء), a glottal stop; 9 is qaf (ق), a k pronounced at the back of the throat.